Northwood boys swim team continues to dominate in PCL dual meets

Girls squad swims well against Uni and Irvine.

Northwood High School’s boys and swim teams, coached by Alex Nieto, are gearing up for the Pacific Coast League prelims and finals later this month and are looking for successful showings in CIF post-season competition.

Boys team

Coach Nieto said the Northwood boys team is continuing to dominate in the Pacific Coast League.

“I believe this will be their seventh undefeated season in a row in PCL dual meets,” he said. “Chris Leung leads a very talented group of young mean this year and this team has the feels of 2018 to it. Our water polo player convert Michael Abshier is back this year as a captain and one of our top sprinters already outpacing himself from previous years in the shorter distances.

“Will Chen, Benton Cheng, Anthony Foo, Derek Hitchens, Elson Lee and Ryan Xu are all back having all earned CIF consideration or automatics already in meets leading up to our spring break and each athlete continues to better their team in the offseason having earned themselves Futures and Winter Junior national time standards at club meets prior to season starting.”

Chen, Hitchens and Leung all qualified for the Summer Nationals with the Irvine Novaquatics, Nieto said.

Newcomer Andrew Maksymowski is also a swimmer to watch, Nieto said.

“He is coming in with a Winter Junior National cut in the 1000 freestyle and just missed it in the 500 freestyle. This group of boys is one of the best teams that Northwood has had and they know it too,” Nieto said.

In a rivalry meet against Woodbridge, Northwood won 100-70.

Nieto said the team still “has a lot to prove.”

The team is scheduled to compete in the MT. SAC Spring of Champions meet this weekend and “ramp up our cohesiveness ….. and then set our sights for a strong showing at PCL,” Nieto said. “The boys know where the power rankings place them in CIF, and they are up for the challenge against Santa Margarita and Loyola high schools.

“This team has all the same feelings as the 2018 team and as coaches, we couldn’t be prouder to be a part of their development as a team and as individuals.”

Girls team

“The NHS girls team for 2023 has a tough act to follow after its first league championship victory since the school was built in 1999,” Nieto said.

The team is led by seniors Addison Cadena (Cal State East Bay athletic commit), Genevieve Chomin (junior), Acile Jammoul (Cal Poly Pomona commit) and Taylor Inouye (senior captain) leading a young squad of girls that is working to break out from the shadow of the 2022 season.”

Nieto said the best performances of the season came against University and Irvine.

“Sophomore Gabby Lan continues to wow us in the water with her competitive spirit earning herself top times for the team in the 50 freestyle (25.63), 100 butterfly (1:00.25) and 200 (2:00.71) being a key part of our resilience as a program this spring.

“Addison Cadena continues to support in the 200 IM, 500 free, and 100 breaststroke in various spots as well as Taylor Inouye (200 IM and 100 breaststroke) and Acile Jammoul in the spring freestyle events.”

Nieto said the highlight so far was the TImberwolves’ effort in the 400 free relay vs. Woodbridge and Irvine.

“Against Woodbridge, they came in second by making headwind in getting closer to the automatic cuts for CIF,” Nieto said. “At Irvine, the girls had to get first and third in order to secure the victory by a comfortable margin but most importantly dropped more than four seconds that meet as a relay.”

The team still has a dual meet vs. Portola and this weekend’s Mt. SAC Meet of Champions.

“Last year, the girls were a large factor in NHS being able to win the overall title at the Mt SAC Meet of Champions,” Nieto said. “The meet had also brought a cohesiveness to the group that I had not seen prior to last year.” 

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